Illegal fags found in frozen chooks

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you. Handling and eating raw chicken carries certain dangers, too.

So the Forager was especially alarmed to come across a recent  press release from HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service about a gang caught smuggling almost 3 million illegal cigarettes into the UK, hidden inside a consignment of frozen chicken.

According to the HMRC statement, the cigarettes and rolling tobacco were “professionally concealed within a load of frozen chicken pieces”, found in a refrigerated lorry in Croydon, South London.

Two men of Polish origin were subsequently convicted, receiving a total of over eight years in prison.

Given the health risks of their deeds, let alone the £288,000 in lost revenue to the taxman, the Forager reckons they got off lightly.